Tennis NZ Announces World’s Most Southerly Pro Tour event

Tennis NZ Announces World’s Most Southerly Pro Tour event

Tennis New Zealand today announced New Zealand’s reintroduction onto the International Tennis Federation professional calendar, after an absence of more than seven years. The World Tennis Tour M15 Te Anau event will feature ATP Men’s Tour rankings points and a prize pool of US$15,000. A sister event for female players, featuring WTA tour points and identical prize money will be announced shortly, once final preparations are confirmed.

The World Tennis Tour will head to the picturesque Te Anau Tennis Club from 30 December – 5 January. The professional tour event builds on the success of the Te Anau Tennis Invitational event, held since 2013. Both events will be held back to back this year, with the Invitational running 28-29 December and the World Tennis Tour event to follow.

The re-introduction of professional tennis at ITF level is seen as a crucial step in player development pathways for budding New Zealand professionals. “It is fantastic to be able to announce our first World Tennis Tour Professional events here in New Zealand. Without these events, the pathway to full-time professional tennis is so much harder for talented Kiwis. Having the chance to provide wildcards to our players gives them a chance to earn crucial rankings points on home soil. It’s an advantage players from most developed tennis countries enjoy and it’s great we can now start to level the playing field,” said Tennis NZ High Performance Director Simon Rea.

The announcement heralds an increased investment in professional tennis events in New Zealand. “For a long time now, the ASB Classic has been our sole professional tour event. It’s an amazing event, consistently bringing the world’s best to New Zealand, but unfortunately Kiwi involvement in singles has been sparse. We now have the opportunity to increase playing opportunities at home for the next tier of young New Zealand professionals. We want to give them every chance to grow as pros and hopefully progress to the level where they are playing and winning on the ASB Classic stage,”said Tennis NZ CEO Julie Paterson. “Initially we have invested over $100,000 to get World Tennis Tour professional tennis off the ground here in NZ, with an aim to host at least four events in the 2020 calendar year. We’re intentionally seeking to work with hosts in regional cities and towns and have been really pleased with enthusiasm and support offered already. These events are not cheap and local financial support alongside Tennis NZ’s investment is critical to their sustainability,” says Paterson.

Event Details:

World Tennis Tour M15 - Te Anau
Dates: 30 December -5 January, Te Anau Tennis Club
Prize Pool: US$15,000, part of the ITF Men’s World Tennis Tour professional circuit.

An announcement will be made next week confirming a Women’s US$15,000 World Tennis Tour event to take place in February 2020 at another location.
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